Users of computer systems may access information items of various types to assist them in performing their daily tasks. The types of information items may include messages, calendar information, documents, contact information, and other information sources. The messages may include electronic mail messages, Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) messages, instant messages, and voice mail messages. The calendar information may include scheduled meetings and to-do lists. The documents may include reports, memoranda, design documents, letters, and so on. The contact information may include electronic mail addresses, telephone numbers, and presence information. The other information sources may include web databases, RSS feeds, news services, and so on. Typically, different information client applications are used to support different types of information. For example, a user who wants to send a message using instant messaging and electronic mail would need to have installed on their computer system an electronic mail client application and an instant messaging client application. As another example, a user who wants to access a SQL database would need a SQL client application, and a user who wants to access a web database would need a web client application. Each client application, however, provides its own interface or context for its information items. An electronic mail client application may provide a context that includes from, to, subject, and input fields and icons for creating messages, sending messages, replying to messages, resolving addresses, and so on. An instant messaging client application may provide a context that includes a list of contacts that are online, a pop-up window that is displayed when a message arrives, and a chat window for displaying and inputting instant messages.
When a user wants to plan out their day, the user may need to access information items of many different types. For example, a user may want to review calendar information about a scheduled meeting, review documents related to the scheduled meeting, have discussions with other invitees before the meeting, review electronic mail messages relating to the meeting, and so on. It can be a very difficult task for a user to gather all the needed information because the user may need to access many different information client applications.
In addition, a user who is performing a task may be bombarded with messages sent from others that are unrelated to the task being performed. For example, a user who is preparing a financial statement for a corporation may receive an instant message from a personal friend or may receive an electronic mail message reporting a recent news event. The user may get distracted by such unrelated messages, resulting in loss of concentration and lower efficiency. Although the user could effectively go offline to avoid being interrupted by any messages, the user would not be able to receive very important messages that are related to the task being performed.